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Magill: Westbrook made history against Yanks

Baseball

The Cleveland Indians' 22-0 massacre of the perennial American League champion New York Yankees Tuesday was especially sweet for Madison County's Jake Westbrook.

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"Jake was really happy," said his father Cauthen Westbrook (former Georgia basketball and baseball star) who witnessed the game on TV and talked to his son afterwards. "Jake had made his big league debut June 17, 2000, with the Yankees on the same mound and lost an 8-7 game to the Chicago White Sox. In fact, he lost his next two assignments (White Sox and Boston Red Sox), and then was traded to Cleveland."

Jake has been in the Cleveland starting rotation the past four years, and he's now enjoying his best season (12-6, following a seven-inning stint against the Yankees Tuesday). It also was his first ever victory over the Yankees.

I have had a special interest in Jake's career, having been a classmate at Georgia with his grandfather, George Washington Westbrook, whom I first met when we played each other for the 10th District high school tennis championship in 1938. He later earned a letter as a jumper on Georgia's track team.

Dan

Magill

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Actually, Jake Westbrook is a fourth-generation athlete from Madison County. His great grandfather, George Hall Westbrook, pitched on Georgia's 1916-18 teams, and was a classmate of my father who saw him play all his home games on old Sanford Field, my father being in the school band.

And, as Georgia's sports information director, it was my pleasure to chronicle Cauthen's many outstanding performances on the court under coach Ken Rosemond and the diamond under coach Jim Whatley. Cauthen was an impressive physical specimen at 6-foot-5, 210 pounds (son Jake is 6-3, 215) and was a strong rebounder in basketball and good hitting first baseman in baseball, leading the Bulldogs one year in each of those categories.

At present Jake's 3.42 ERA ranks fourth in the American League.

The Indians' best bet to make the playoffs is to beat out Minnesota for the Central Division title, which would be easier to do than win a wild card spot. The Indians currently are eight games behind the Twins.

I told Cauthen to tell Jake that his participation in the 22-0 win over the Yankees indirectly puts him ahead of the great Ty Cobb in one respect. Cobb paced the Detroit Tigers to a 19-1 win over the Yankees on June 17, 1925, which previously was the worst licking ever dealt the Pin-stripers who happened to be led at the time by George Herman (Babe) Ruth.